Prior to the recent CD10 elections and after several years of endless unanswered emails, Council President Wesson finally met with 16th Place residents to intervene on their behalf with the CIM development agency.

CIM created the development at the corner of San Vicente and Venice Blvd. and includes big name retailers, Lowe’s, Petsmart, Smart n Final, Ross and more. But unannounced changes in the originally presented design and the circumvention of several agreements with the affected community had serious consequences for the 16th Place residents including the elimination of the view of the city and the Hollywood Hills that 16th Place had not only enjoyed but had added value to their properties. This was the result of the stealth overnight installation of a wall along Venice which was soon followed by huge billboards blaring graphics into the windows of the residents homes. Insult was added to injury when residents discovered the billboards were installed without the necessary sign offs and against agreements made with the city agency CRA who had initiated the guidelines for the developers.

Letters sent by the city attorney to bring CIM in line were ignored for years. Efforts to engage Councilmember Wesson went on for several years until recently when he generously arranged three meetings which included the head of Department of Building and Safety, Raymond Chan and head of Department of Planning, Michael Logrand. These meetings resulted in the removal of the billboards and their frames… for the time being.

Continued meetings are scheduled with the Councilmember to address a myriad of other issues including the installation of a promised sound wall to reduce the increased noise from the “canyon” created by the wall and the hillside the residents live on, the increased pollution, after hour’s deliveries (including trash dumping) and construction, parking lot lights and wall lights blaring into their windows which should be dimmed after hours.